1. Field of the Invention
A cable lock to prevent the theft of portable personal property such as office equipment, or school or hospital equipment, or reference library books.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The theft of portable personal property is a ubiquitous problem. Such theft is not only prevalent during burglaries, but also in all public and many private places, such as business offices, where even office workers at times succumb to temptation, and steal diverse items of office machinery such as electronic calculators, dictating machines, typewriters, etc. It is a well-known fact that in recent years, there has been a sharp rise in crimes of this nature due perhaps to a general lessening of the loyalty of salaried workers to their employers. Needless to say, many persons have no compunctions or inhibitions at all against the appropriation of portable personal property from a place of employment. The prospect of possibly or eventually being apprehended, and even imprisoned, has not proven to be a deterrent, particularly since the value of the items appropriated does not approach the magnitude which warrants a prison sentence, i.e. the prisons in recent years have tended to become the province for the incarceration of those convicted of more serious crimes, such as crimes against the person, felonies such as armed robbery, or crimes such as embezzlement, where large amounts of monies are stolen.
Thus, the actual fact that a person may be imprisoned as a convicted felon, and removed from society, is not an effective deterrent to the theft of portable personal property.
Thus, in recent years, there has been a proliferation of anti-theft security devices and deterrents, to prevent the loss of portable personal property from an office, as well as from the home. The applications of such devices are virtually unlimited and extend to the protection of almost any movable machine and equipment, in schools, hospitals, universities, offices and industry, motels, hotels, nursing homes, institutions and, in fact, anywhere there is equipment to be protected. The uses of such devices are as varied as the equipment being protected, e.g. typewriters, electronic or manual calculators, tomes, comptometers, movable desk-top computer equipment, cash registers, billing machines, adding machines, vending machines, audio-visual equipment, photocopiers, hi-fi components, auto tape decks, citizen band and ship-to-shore radios, checkwriters, display merchandise, microscopes, television sets, scientific and laboratory equipment and instruments, projectors, dictating and taping equipment, electronic devices, etc. may be secured in any and all of the diverse facilities mentioned above.
It is evident that in most instances, it would be desirable to install an anti-theft device of this nature which concomitantly protects a plurality of items located in a single establishment such as an office. It is also apparent that installation of a viable anti-theft device can avoid and preclude serious financial and production losses, including hidden losses only recognized by perceptive people. Thus, having equipment taken is more than just an inconvenience, with lost production in offices and elsewhere, while overhead remains a burdensome fixed expense item. There are also costly hidden charges such as insurance deductibles, applicable sales taxes, depreciation discounts, higher replacement costs due to inflation, and finally, a possible increase in insurance premiums, or even the refusal to renew insurance policies which could lead to a serious capital loss if further theft occurs after the existing policy expires or lapses.